History

The present Barna G. A. A club was formed in 1965. It fielded a Junior team and a minor team that year. The junior team were first out and played their first game versus John F. Kennedy’s’ in Pearse Stadium with the Bohermore selection winning on a score line of 1-3 to 1-2.
Other games that year were against Maree, Claregalway, Clifden and Spiddal with the only success coming against Maree. The Minors were well beaten in their games which amounted to one championship game and three league games. Kevin Curran was one of the main men those years, acting both as team captain and manager. In those years the club colours were black and blue and the jerseys were kindly sponsored by Frank Gibbons of Knocknacarragh Cross RIP, businessman.
Other names to the fore for the club in those early years were Nicholas Fagan RIP, Bernie Conneely, Tim Conneely, Padraic Curran, Tommy Gannon, FR. Ml. O’Connor C. C. , Willie Concannon and Ronnie O’Connor.
The club reached the West Board semi-final in 1969 losing to Clifden(by four points) who went on to win the Final. They also reached the semi-final of the U21 championship that year again losing to St. Michaels by two points.

The 70’s

In 1972 they reached the west board league final losing to Moycullen after a replay. The team on that occasion was managed by Peter Gill and Ml. Reardon R. I. P. In 1974 Bosco McDermott joined the Club( after his three in a row exploits) and things took a turn for the better. He acted as Chairman and Team Manager. They reached the West Board Semi-Final again that year only to be beaten by Spiddal who went on to win the County Title.
1979 saw the club win its first West Board Title as well as Comortas peile na Gaeltachta. However they lost the County title to St. Gabriels but were promoted to Senior Status as beaten County Finalists. They remained at Senior level for four years.

The 80’s

In 1987 they reached their first County Minor A final losing narrowly to Salthill by two points. In 1986 they reached the county Intermediate Final only to lose again this time to Ballinasloe.
They were promoted to Senior again as beaten County Finalists that year but were relegated to Intermediate to Junior in a matter of twelve months. In 1989 they won the West Board Junior Championship only to lose the County Final to Moylough. They also won the West Board U21 final and went on to win their First County Final by defeating Ballinasloe by eight points. They were promoted to Intermediate again as beaten County Finalists at Junior Level where they remained for a number of years.

The 90’s

In 1992 and 1993 city league U14 titles were Won under the management of Sean Flaherty (1992) and Johny Flaherty, Jimmy Greaney and Johny O’ Connor(1993). In 1997 the Minor team containing a number of very talented players amalgamated with Spiddal and made a clean sweep in winning the Westboard league, Westboard Championship and County Championship under the management of Sean Conlon and Davy Carr.
In 1998 Gay O’ Brien moved into the Barna area and he along with James Gannon installed a real sense of purpose and organisation into the Intermediate team. The team went through the whole season only losing two games in league and championship. In the Championship Headford, Oughterard, and Ballinasloe were all accounted for and we Faced a County Final Meeting against Mountbellew Moylough. In a ding dong affair Mountbellew struck for a late goal and ended up winners on a scoreline of 1-9 to 0-7, Barna’s chances were severely dented by an injury to our Star forward Sean Conlon whose influence was sorely missed. All was not lost however as our excellent League form allowed for a second bite at Senior Status. We defeated Oughterard and Carna Cashel to claim the Westboard Intermediate Championship and Faced a meeting with Ballinasloe in the County league final to determine who would regain Senior Status.
Although one of our heroes Seamus McIntyre R. I. P. had returned to work in Cork we had Sean Conlon back from injury and he along with many more heroes were to play a huge part as we defeated St. Grellans after two epic games to return to the top table of Gaelic Football in Galway Where we still remain. In 1999 we defeated Clonbur in our first Championship game at senior level in twelve years but we were defeated at the Quarter final stage by Killererin who went onto win the County Championship.

The 00’s

In 2000 Mayo native and former Allstar Pat Fallon had come on board and he was instrumental as we defeated our neighbours and great rivals Salthill in an epic game at Inverin and were just edged out by the Fahy inspired Killanin in the Quarter Final who went on to contest the County Final. In 2001 we defeated Moycullen in Inverin in another epic battle and again drew Killanin in the quarter final. This was a real missed opportunity as we had the chances to win the first game but it went to a replay and killanin prevailed thanks in no uncertain terms to a very fortunate Gary Fahey goal. In 2002 we amazingly drew Killanin once more but on this occasion they had the upper hand. This lead us to the back door route and a meeting with the 2001 County Champions Annaghdown. Despite putting in a spirited challenge Annaghdown eventually pulled away. Also the club amalgamated with Spiddal and were Defeated in two County U21 A finals in 1999 and 2000. The end of the 2002 season has seen the departure of Gay o’ Brien from the Dugout to the boardroom in the position as Chairman, his contribution in getting the club to Senior status and retaining their position should not be underestimated as an excellent foundation was put in place for the club to build on. In 2004 the club saw further expansion when the ladies section was added to the club. In 2005 the club celebrated its 40th anniversary by inviting the team 1965 back team for a celebratory banquet. The clubs anniversary year finished on a magnificent high when the clubs minor B team captured the County minor B title under the stewardship of Mike Lydon, Bernie Conneely and Peter Gill. In 2006 Martin McDermott took on the role as chairman following in the footsteps of his father who had previously been club chairman, at the 2006 AGM is was also decided to form a juvenile committee to further advance the juvenile section of the club. The juvenile club had a historic year in 2008 when seven titles were brought back to the club, including the County Feile Title which was captured for first time. In 2008 the club had further success when the minor team under the management of Matt Lawless and Mark McDonagh captured the west board minor championship. 2009 saw the club capture its first A title when the U16s under the stewardship of Comas Gilmore, Eddie Walsh, Aidan Brady , Matt Lawless and John Cliffored won the county A title.

2009 also saw Aidan Brady take over as chairman of the club, at the 2009 AGM the new executive were given a mandate to find better playing facilities for the club. The outcome of this process was that the club purchased the land at Cloughscoilte from Barna CO OP, plans are now being put in place to redevelop the whole complex.

The 2010 was an historic season for the club as we won the Comortas Peile Na Gaeltachta for the first time ever and also we had our best year ever in the senior champioship when we reached the last four of the senior championship under the guidance of Pat Fallon, Mike Lydon and Bert Curran.